Protection of Human Rights in the Framework of the United Nations

There are several bodies entrusted with the task of promoting human rights by the UN Charter. Several more were also established during its 75 years history. The main pillars of the UN human rights machinery are the General Assembly, the human rights treaties’ monitoring bodies, the Human Rights Council (Commission on Human Rights before 2006), and the Secretariat. 

After determining the promotion of human rights as one of the organization’s purposes in Article 1/3, UN Charter gives place to human rights in its articles 13, 55, 56, 62, 68, and 76. 

Articles 55 and 56 go under the heading of “International Economic and Social CoOperation”. Article 55 states that the UN will promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. According to Article 56, all Members promise to take joint and separate action in co-operation with the Organization for the achievement of the purposes set forth in Article 55. 

Two main organs of the UN, General Assembly and the ECOSOC were given the task of promoting human rights generally. Early General Assembly resolutions addressed alleged violations of human rights in several East European countries. Among the earliest acts of the ECOSOC was to create the Commission on Human Rights as well as on the status of women and to approve the establishment of sub-commissions on the prevention of discrimination, protection of minorities and on freedom of press. 

Two covenants were signed in 1966: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The Secretary General said that it is not surprising that the drafting of the two covenants has taken so long, since they cover almost the whole of the relations between the individual and society. 

General Assembly approved the ECOSOC’s proposal for the Commission on Human Rights to prepare an international bill of rights (GA Res. 43(I), Dec. 11,1946). Universal Declaration was adopted two years later, at 10 December 1948 by the General Assembly with 48 votes and 8 abstentions. The abstaining states were Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Ukrainian SSR, Yugoslavia, and USSR. 

These two covenants remain the most comprehensive conventions adopted yet. Both begin with a common article that sets forth the right of self-determination for all peoples. It also includes the right to dispose of their natural resources freely. This common article was the center of a most heated argument.

1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination describes racial discrimination in its Article 1 as “any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on races, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social cultural or any other field of public life”. 

1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women specifies measures for the advancement and empowerment of women in private and public life, particularly in the areas of education, employment, health, marriage and family. It is often described as an international bill of rights for women. 

The ECOSOC’s subsidiary body was ‘The Commission’. The General Assembly’s subsidiary body is ‘The Council’. Working groups are mainly established under these principal subsidiary bodies. Still, giving name to these bodies is made in a haphazard way, and there is not any certain rule about it. 

High Commissioners carry out many key activities like developing standards, and conducting and coordinating visits and reports by expert mechanisms. The OHCHR prepares summaries of information about each state for the Universal Periodic Review procedure. High Commissioners have to manage a substantial staff which has grown from 100 persons to over 1000. They have to show independence, exercise a self-activating mandate, but also be accountable both to the victims and the governments. 

Member states are supervised with the aim of human rights protection by using two main approaches. First is the mechanism brought by the conventions. Under all of the conventions, state parties are obliged to submit periodic reports. They also endow state parties with the right of complaining against another state party. 

There are three main procedures for bringing complaints of violations of the provisions of the human rights treaties before the human rights treaty bodies: individual communications; state-to-state complaints; and inquiries.

UN Charter mentions only the promotion and encouragement of the human rights, but not protection of it. This provision sometimes used by the states to argue that UN mechanisms cannot receive individual communications, since the UN can only promote and encourage, but not actively protect. This argument long past its validity now. 122

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) also has 18 independent experts. It was established under ECOSOC Resolution 1985/17 of 28 May 1985 to carry out the monitoring functions of the Covenant. In addition to the reporting procedure, the Optional Protocol which entered into force in 2013 provides the Committee competence to receive and consider communications from individuals claiming that their rights under the Covenant have been violated. The Committee may also, under certain circumstances, undertake inquiries on grave or systematic violations of any of the economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the Covenant, and consider inter-state complaints.

The Committee against Torture (CAT) is a body of 10 independent experts. In addition to the reporting procedure, the Convention establishes three other mechanisms through which the Committee performs its monitoring functions: the Committee may also consider individual complaints or communications from individuals if related state party accepted this procedure by a declaration, undertake inquiries, and consider inter-state complaints.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of 18 Independent experts. It also monitors implementation of two Optional Protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Any member state can be examined under special procedures even though it has never been a party to any convention made under the auspice of the UN. They are created according to the implied powers of the UN whose purposes include the protection of human rights. Under implied powers, an international organization can create necessary means to achieve its purpose, even though a certain means is not mentioned in its founding treaty.

In the early days of the UN, the Commission on Human Rights was focused on elaborating human rights standards. The postwar ‘no power to act’ consensus was not seriously challenged until 1965, when a group of newlyindependent states from Africa, the Middle East and Asia started to press the UN to respond to human rights violations associated with colonialism, racism and apartheid.

The 1235 Procedure allowed the Commission on Human Rights to create an ad hoc working group of its own members to conduct investigations concerning systematic and grave human rights violations, and first of its kind as stated earlier. Nevertheless, that procedure used in a limited way, focusing only on the issues related to racial discrimination and colonialism. 

The pluses of the 1503 procedure are that a complaint can be submitted against any country without needing to check whether it has ratified a particular treaty or limited its obligations under the instrument. Once a complaint is submitted, complainant does not have to respond again at a later point with further information, the initial complaint is sufficient. 

Possible drawbacks of the procedure are that complainant will not be informed of the decisions taken at the various stages of the process or the reasons for them. Nor will he/she be informed of the relevant Government’s responses. Also the procedure can be protracted and there is no provision for urgent measures of protection. Although the names of the states examined under the 1503 procedure is publicly announced, its reports are kept private.